She Arrived with Thunder
by WorldPeace9696
Summary: One day, she shows up to the scene of a murder and suddenly, everything changes. S.H.I.E.L.D barges into her life to recruit her into a team called the Avengers and through this, she meets an annoyingly gorgeous but arrogant man who calls himself Thor, the God of Thunder. (Full summary inside)
1. The Beginning

**Full Summary:** Clara knew from a young age that she was different, or "special" as her mother liked to put it. She was much stronger and swifter than the other kids. When she saw someone bleeding, she could heal their wound with a touch of her hand and when she got angry, objects around her would start flying and crashing into walls as the ground trembled beneath her.

As she grew older, she learned to control her powers and by the age of eighteen, she fully understood how to prevent herself from using them. What she didn't understand though was why her mother was so against her using her powers, especially when she could do good things such as healing people. She knew that her mother was afraid of what the government would do with her if they found out the truth, but sometimes her protection felt excessive.

A few years have passed and Clara is now living a normal life by keeping quiet about her abilities, or so she thinks. One day, she shows up to the scene of a murder and suddenly, everything changes. S.H.I.E.L.D barges into her life to recruit her into a team called the Avengers and through this, she meets a gorgeous man who calls himself Thor, the God of Thunder. Even though he seems highly arrogant at first, she finds herself smiling whenever he is around. Maybe he isn't so bad after all. But why the hell does she constantly end up worrying about him?

Join Clara for an adventure filled with superheroes, villains, and romance all intertwined together!

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - The Beginning**

April 27, 1990—Illinois

Susan glanced out into the backyard of her home as she finished rinsing the remaining soap off of the last dish in the sink. Another rumble of thunder came before lightning sparked into the middle of the night. Quickly, she shut off the water and dried her hands. She wasn't scared of thunderstorms, but she wasn't a fan of them either. She would have preferred to be in her husband's company rather than standing alone in the kitchen, but such an idea was impossible because she had lost him to cancer four months ago. He had been ill for a few years and the both of them had been expecting it—his death, but it had still hit her hard when it actually happened.

After closing the blinds, she switched the lights off as she headed towards the staircase. The abrupt noise of someone pounding against the front door caused her heart to jump with fear. Who was here so late at night during the middle of a storm? All of a sudden, a jumble of thoughts ran through her head.

Was it a robber? A killer? A rapist? What if it was all three?

She forced herself to move forward to look through the peephole. She needed to show herself who it was behind the door before allowing her mind to decide whether or not she really was in danger in the first place.

She let out a gasp when she saw a tall, young man drenched from head to toe in rain holding a small bundle of a pink blanket in his arms. Peering as close as she could, she realized that he was holding a baby. The thoughts she had regarding any potential danger completely left her as she unlocked the door and opened it.

"Hi," she began, "can I help you?" She couldn't get herself to look away from the man as she spoke. Something about him was so angelic.

"I need your help."

She frowned out of concern as her eyes shifted towards the pink bundle again. "Is it the baby? Is she okay?"

The man had the baby too close into his chest for her to see its face, but she assumed by the color of the blanket that it was a she.

"No. She is in great danger," he said, confirming the baby's gender.

Susan's eyebrows furrowed with more concern. "In great danger? What do you mean by that?"

"I need you to take care of her and raise her like she is your own child."

"Hold on a second. What?" she asked in astonishment.

"I know you, Susan. I know that your husband passed away a few months back. You have always wanted a child… Now, you can finally be a mother."

Her eyes widened when he mentioned her name, but it grew even bigger when he revealed her own background information to her. For some reason, she didn't feel bothered by the fact that he knew her. The kindness in his eyes gave her full assurance that he meant no harm, but his knowledge still puzzled her.

"How do you know all of this? And why are you giving me your baby?" she questioned.

"This is not my baby," he replied.

"Okay. Before I ask you why you're giving me someone else's baby, you need to answer my first question."

"I am an angel."

"An angel?" she repeated with a raised eyebrow.

Wasn't this the time for her to close the door on the man's face and call the police? Why wasn't she doing so?

"You don't believe me?" he asked in a tone that revealed that he already knew the answer. "I understand. I know this sounds insane. Just let me show you something."

He studied the bandage over her thumb where she had accidentally cut herself a few hours before. The cut was still fresh with red blood lining against it in a thin layer. He gently placed his hand over hers, careful not to scare her.

Susan felt her hand warming under his touch as a reddish-orange glow circled around the area of the cut. In a matter of seconds, it was gone: the light and the cut. She was completely healed. It was a miracle!

She struggled to form words. "I-How did you do that?"

This time he gave her a smile. "Like I said, I'm an Angel of the Lord. To be specific, I am the protector of newborns and children. That is my role. I have searched the entire country and you stood out the most. Your prayers reached me. Do you believe me now?"

She nodded. "Yes," she said as she gulped down the air of the cold rainy night. She fought the urge to shiver as a gust of wind reached her. This situation was so odd, yet she felt comfortable around this man—this Angel's presence.

"If you are not the father of the baby, who is?"

"She is the child of Theliel, the Angel of love."

"So then this child is a-"

He interrupted her. "Her father was an angel, but her mother was a mortal like you. So no, she is not exactly an angel. She is a Nephilim—half angel and half human."

"Was. You said _was_. Her parents are gone? What happened to them?"

"It is a sin for an angel to fall in love with a human. Theliel was punished by death. And since his child is the result of a sin, she is not safe unless she is hidden."

Before this moment, Susan had never thought that Angels could be real, but even if she had, she wouldn't have ever guessed that they could _die_. Weren't they supposed to be immortal?

"Was her mother punished too?" she asked.

The angel shook his head. "No. She died during childbirth. It is a common occurrence when a human gives birth to a nephilim. Their power can be too overwhelming for the human to handle." There was sadness on his face. "So… Will you accept this child into your home?"

"Can I… Can I see her first?"

"Yes," he answered but instead of just showing her the baby, he placed her into her arms.

Susan felt overjoyed to be holding the child. "She's so beautiful," she whispered.

It was true. Although the girl was only a baby, she was charismatic. Something about her was fascinating. Maybe it had to do with her beauty. There was an aura about her that revealed that she was similar to the angel next to her, that she was half angel.

"What is her name?"

"Clara. Just like her mother wanted to name her."

"Clara," Susan murmured as she watched the sleeping baby in her arms. The name seemed to match perfectly. Suddenly, she moved her head up to look at the Angel again. "I accept your proposal. I will be this baby's mother. I will raise her like she is my own."

"I am so glad to hear it," he said as he pulled out a folder from his messenger bag. "Here. Her birth certificate with you listed as the mother."

"Wait a second. You already knew that I would accept her before coming here?"

"I had a feeling," the angel grinned. His expression quickly changed back to a serious one. "She will not be like other children. She is special and there will come a day when she will discover her powers. You must not let her use them. If Raguel hears word, he will come looking for her."

"Who is Raguel?"

"The angel who turned her father in. Do not worry. The less she uses her powers, the less likely he will be able to track her. As long as she stays away from using them, she will be safe."

Susan nodded in response. It scared her that she was bringing a half Angel, half human child into her home, but at the same time she was happy. This baby girl was a new hope in her life.

"I must go now. Theliel was my friend. Please take good care of her. Please keep her safe."

"I promise that I will," she said as she watched the man caressing the baby's cheek one last time. "Before you leave, can you tell me your name? One day, maybe one day, she will need you."

"My name is Temeluch," he revealed and in a blink of an eye, he was gone.

Susan held in her gasp as she quickly closed the door, putting the lock in place. Thunder rumbled through the house and the baby woke up. To Susan's surprise, the baby didn't cry. She stared up at her with big eyes, curiosity held in them. Susan could tell just from the baby's appearance that her mother had been Asian. Her hair was a light brown color and her eyes were hazel under the light coming from the staircase. She shared similar features like other half Asian children. This was good. Susan herself was Asian. It would be easy to pretend like the child was biologically hers and that would help keep away any potential suspicions. It would help Raguel stay away, wherever he was.

Susan went up the stairs and entered the first room on the left of the hallway. It was fascinating. Temeluch had really heard her prayers. She and her husband had wanted a child throughout their whole marriage and they had been prepared by getting ready with a room for their future baby when Susan became pregnant. However, she had miscarried and the room had never been used for its purpose. Now, it could finally come into use.

The new mother held her child in her arms until she fell asleep again. After placing her into the crib, Susan opened the folder given by Temeluch to see the birth certificate. She placed her fingers against the paper to feel how real it was.

"Well, Clara Song. I guess it's just you and me now, huh?"

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:** If you are one of my readers from my other fanfics, I deeply apologize for not updating them. I know it has been a while. I sort of had writer's block for a long time. I changed my major last summer to English and I feel like I am writing "for fun" less now than I did before. However, I'm currently in my "Avengers fangirling phase" so I've found my inspiration for writing again. I'm working as a tutor at my university along with being a cashier at a store so I don't exactly have a lot of time this summer, but I will try writing whenever I can. I think before, I felt extremely pressured about having to update quickly that I didn't really put enough quality work into my other stories... So I'm going to try not to force myself to write new chapters by a certain deadline. Instead, I'm going to enjoy experimenting around, __coming up with different ideas,_ _and plugging them into my Google Doc by having genuine fun with it!_

 _Now to the explanation behind this story. I've noticed that there are tons of Loki fanfics out there, but not a lot of Thor ones so I decided to write this. Thor deserves some love too (although I love Loki as well)! I've got to admit, I didn't really like Thor at first, but he is seriously getting more lovable by each movie. His character development is just goals!_

 _Anyway, I hope to see you in future chapters!_

 _Thank you for reading! Please leave a review! I'd love to know what y'all think._

 _Btw, if you're curious about Clara, the reason why I made her half Asian is because I feel like it's rare to see main characters who are Asian (in Hollywood and in fanfiction). Am I right? It is slowly starting to change though... Ahem "To All the Boys I've Loved Before."_

 _Also, this is just the introduction to my character (to explain her background) so this chapter is on the shorter side. I plan to make my chapters longer from here on out._

 _Oh, and one last thing! As a disclaimer, I would like to state that this is NOT a religious story. I mean, angels will be mentioned and included, but I'm just taking the concept of them rather than going all "logical" with it._

 _S.H.I.E.L.D will come into the story starting the next chapter!_

 _-Jane_


	2. SHIELD

**Chapter 2 - S.H.I.E.L.D**

July 22, 2011—Manhattan, New York

Answering phone calls for a living wasn't something that most people considered as an ideal way to live life, especially when it entailed having to talk with all sorts of unreasonable people at least once a day. It was common to see people quitting their jobs within the first week or getting fired for losing their temper with a customer, and that was why the call center wasn't a place for people to have long lasting jobs. However, things were different for Clara Song. At the age of twenty-one, she was currently working at the center and had been working here for the past year.

Clara overheard her co-worker's voice from the cubicle next to her as she finished a call with a customer. "Oh, you don't want to replace it anymore?... Hello? What the hell? He hung up on me. Asshole."

"Hey. Are you alright?" Clara asked as she scooted her chair over to sit closer to Lynn.

She sighed. "No, I'm upset."

"What happened?"

"This guy called to complain that the t-shirt he ordered for his girlfriend was too small and that he wanted to exchange it with another size. So when I asked which size he needed for her, he said that the reason why the t-shirt was too tight on her was because of her 'huge breasts.' So to make sure that he got the correct size this time, he asked for _my_ bra size to compare it with hers. As if that makes any sense."

Clara's mouth opened wide with shock. "Oh no. He did not. That's so inappropriate."

"I know! He probably doesn't even have a girlfriend. He just called to get a woman onto the phone and sexually harass her, and that woman happened to be me."

"You didn't deserve that. But girl, you handled it so well." Clara tried to be optimistic by complimenting her and giving her shoulders a squeeze.

"Well, I was three seconds away from cursing at him!" Lynn said with honesty. "I'm glad he hung up on me because I would have lost my job for yelling at him if he hadn't. I don't know how you do this, Clara. I hate working here. I know I've only been here for a month, which is nothing compared to how long you've worked here, but I'm already sick of it. You need to tell me your secret."

What was the secret behind Clara's ability to work at the call center?

Well, if there was one thing that she was good at, it was being extremely patient. She was so good at it that it could be called an actual skill. She hadn't always been so patient though. From age twelve, Clara discovered that she was unlike other kids her age. Whenever she got emotional, mostly when she was sad or angry, this unexplainable energy would build up inside of her and it would release without any control. Objects around her would be thrown across the air, breaking and shattering. And sometimes, the floor that she was standing on would tremble, causing the furniture to shake.

Then over the next two years, Clara found out that she was strong, strong enough to move a sofa on her own without struggling the tiniest bit. It didn't make sense. She didn't play any sports. In fact, she didn't work out at all. Her strength came from nowhere in her petite body. And when it came to her reflexes, she was as quick as lightning.

Another thing that was fascinating was the fact that her body could heal quicker than what was supposed to be normal. Once, she had bumped her big toe against the door while rushing out to catch the school bus, and half of her nail had come off. It had been a huge bloody mess, but somehow, it was completely healed within two days.

On top of that amazing ability to heal fast, she could heal others with just a touch of her hand. It had only happened once when her mother had accidentally cut her foot on a piece of glass. From that experience, Clara became aware of her ability to heal, but she didn't know how to do it. To discover more about it, she experimented on her mother whenever she had even the slightest bruise, but nothing happened. It seemed that she had to conjure the same exact feelings that she had had when she first healed her mother—the feelings of concern and an urgent need to help her. And for the next four years, Clara learned how to do this along with controlling the rest of her powers—all of them—with the help of her mother who was keen on making sure that she kept her abilities a secret.

Her mother explained that her powers were a gift, yet she would still prevent her from using them. "It's dangerous to use them. Bad people will come looking for you if they know what you can do," she would say. Clara understood that her mother wanted to keep her safe so she complied, but as time passed, she wanted to know what it was like to use them freely. To use them for good.

By the age of eighteen, she was completely aware of how to use her powers. It had taken some work, but it finally happened. After graduating from high school, Clara went off to college in New York. She enjoyed the idea of being able to help people and decided to pursue the medical field. However, after two years of studying general education and pre-requisite courses, she realized that this road wasn't right for her. Even if she did become a nurse or maybe even a doctor, she would be unable to keep herself away from using her healing powers. This field of work was not fit for her because she couldn't just watch if it came to the point where machines and medicine weren't enough to fix a patient. She discontinued her education and got the first job that she could get in NYC. She wasn't sure what she wanted to pursue in life anymore and she knew it would be better to earn money rather than spending it.

Having had found a love for the city life, she chose to stay in Manhattan. Her mother eventually moved out of Illinois to be with her in New York and together they lived in a two bedroom apartment. And that was how Clara was living a "normal" life. Well, as normal as she could be as a twenty-one-year-old working woman living with her mother and having no friends.

Starting in elementary school, Clara became known as the strange, quiet girl who kept to herself because whenever kids approached her, her mother wouldn't allow her to play with them. But she wasn't strange or quiet. She was just misunderstood.

She wanted nothing more than to interact with people, but her powers hadn't allowed her to. But when she attended college, she was finally able to make a few friends within her classes. However, they drifted away when she discontinued her education and so, she really didn't have any friends. It was hard to have them when she was constantly hiding who she really was.

All in all, this long process of staying away from people had helped her learn how to control her powers. This process was the reason behind her ability to be patient with everything and she was glad because if she wasn't able to be patient, her powers would be completely out of her control.

* * *

The apartment building that Clara lived in had an elevator, but it didn't work due to the building's old age. Just thinking about walking up the stairs in her high heels made her dread going home. Her job didn't require having to dress fancy or anything—not at all. But it became a necessity for her to wear them because the three (or sometimes four) inches of extra height gave her 5 ft. 2 self a boost in confidence.

When Clara turned the corner to her street, her eyebrows scrunched together with confusion and concern as she saw her apartment building surrounded by emergency vehicles. There were cops everywhere. She walked closer and stopped just before the yellow barricade tape.

She spotted Mrs. Kowalski, her neighbor, standing a few meters away from her standing behind the tape, talking to a police officer. Waving her hand, she tried to catch her attention.

"Clara!" Mrs. Kowalski called in a frantic voice when she noticed her. She quickly moved forward, ducking under the tape to approach her.

"What happened here?" Clara asked.

"Oh, dear. I don't know how to tell you this… I'm so sorry. Your Mom… Your Mom is dead."

Clara's heart dropped. She stared off to the distance, her mind cloudy with confusion. This couldn't be real. Her mom was happy and healthy. She couldn't have just died. How would she have died?

"No," she shook her head. "S-she can't be dead."

"I'm sorry."

Reality hit her. "No. No!" she cried as her legs felt ready to give up. "H-how? H-how did this happen?"

Mrs. Kowalski pulled her into a tight hug. "I heard screaming coming from your place. The front door was open so I went in and I saw… Oh, Clara. I'm so sorry."

Clara quickly pulled away to look into her eyes. The woman looked terrified. "What did you see?"

"Her eyes... They were burnt."

* * *

Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division was a handful to say so whenever they had to introduce themselves, the organization went by S.H.I.E.L.D. Not a lot of people from the public knew about them. There really wasn't a reason to know them because in reality, they did secret stuff—the kind of work that was hidden by the U.S. government to protect the world from knowing too much. To put their duties clearly, they existed to protect people from terrorism, often from big, strange things that the regular law enforcement couldn't handle. The recent murder at a Manhattan apartment was one of these situations because apparently, it was no ordinary murder.

Agent Phil Coulson had important duties. He was supposed to start putting together a team—a group of individuals who were unique and highly skilled to protect those from evil. It wasn't an official team yet; only a concept, but it was in the process of being made. Therefore, some murder that took place in the middle of the city was none of his concern, even when S.H.I.E.L.D was supposedly taking over the case. However, when he noticed that the address of the murder was the same one that was listed on the profile he was looking at, going to the scene of the murder was now his newest priority.

Phil showed his ID to the cop who was guarding the entrance to the small apartment. The special forensics team from S.H.I.E.L.D followed behind him. As the agent took a glance at the body of the deceased, he immediately noticed the eyes of the victim. In the place of where the eyeballs should be, there was nothing but blackness. This poor woman's eyes had been burned.

"Crazy, isn't it? I haven't seen anything like it before," said one of the analysts.

"That's why they called us," Phil answered.

This couldn't have been done by a human being and that was why S.H.I.E.L.D had been contacted.

"Where is the victim's daughter?" he asked the closest officer.

Phil found his way through the police department to the floor where the crime investigation unit was said to be. The officer he had spoken to had told him that Clara Song was brought here by one of the detectives.

As he walked in, he immediately recognized the young woman he was looking for, the one who was on the profile that he was carrying. He approached the desk in the back corner where she sat.

"Who are you? Who let you in here?" the detective who sat with her asked in a hostile tone.

He showed her his ID and she backed off reluctantly. "I don't know if you've heard, but S.H.I.E.L.D is officially taking over this case," he stated.

"I've heard," she replied. "This girl has been through a lot. Be careful of what you say."

Phil pulled out a chair and took a seat next to the young woman. He looked over to the detective who was still in the same spot. "Could you give us some space?"

"This is my desk."

Phil matched her glare with an unwavering stare.

"Fine," she muttered as she stood up and stomped away. "Psh! Special agents always think they're all that."

"Hi, Clara. I'm Agent Coulson," Phil said in a soft voice. He noticed the dark smudges of her eye makeup smeared around her cheeks. She was still in the process of wiping away her tears but still, even when her face was stained with black splotches, there was something about her that was strangely alluring. For a second, he suspected that he was under an enchantment. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"You said that you're from S.H.I.E.L.D." She sniffled as she blew her nose. "What is that?"

"It stands for the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division," he said in one breath.

"Then aren't you supposed to be looking at terrorism and stuff like that? Why are you guys taking over my mom's case?"

"Have you heard any specific details about what happened to her?" he asked without acknowledging her question.

"Yes," she nodded slowly. "My neighbor told me that her eyes had been burned... What kind of person would do such a thing? I just don't understand. My mom was the nicest woman in the world. Why would anyone want to do this to her?"

"It might not have been a person," Phil said cautiously. He needed to test the grounds first since he wasn't sure what this woman knew or didn't know.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, there are things out here in this world that you may have never imagined could exist, or maybe you have."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Phil opened his laptop. After glancing over his shoulder to make sure that no one else was watching, he played the videos that S.H.I.E.L.D had compiled. "Isn't this you in the CCTV footage?"

"How did you get these?"

"We've got eyes around," he answered. "Look. Here you are helping the homeless."

"Yes, I-I don't have much of an income, but I try to help them out whenever I can."

He knew by the way that she stuttered that she knew something. The way she was scared to reveal her true powers showed that she wasn't a threat to society. If anything, she was doing good with whatever abilities she had. After all, she was helping the homeless.

"But are you helping them, or are you healing them?"

"Healing them? I don't know what you mean by that," she replied, but her voice rose into a higher pitch.

Phil quickly closed his laptop as he heard footsteps approaching. Another detective was returning to his desk which was on the opposite side of the desk that they were sitting at.

"I think you do know what I mean," he said to her, making sure to be quiet in order to remain discreet. "There has to be some reason behind why these people call you 'Angel.' You've never told them your name, so they came up with that for you. They say you're a healer. You can heal people whether it is an injury or a disease. I don't know how you do it, but you can and that I know for a fact."

"What do you want from me?" she whispered.

"There's no need to be afraid. Anything you tell me is confidential," he assured her. "We're very discreet here at S.H.I.E.L.D. I just want to know more about your abilities."

"But why? To make sure that I'm not a threat to the world? I promise you that I am nothing like that. I would never hurt anyone."

"I know," Phil nodded. She seemed surprised but relieved to hear his response. "You're not in trouble. You see, S.H.I.E.L.D takes in people who are willing to do good for the world. Most agents join through the academy, but you—you're one of the special cases. You don't need to apply. We would like to personally recruit you for a new team we're creating."

"A team? For what?"

"There are others like you out there. Special and unique, but not all of them are on the good side. This team will be devised to fight them off—the bad guys. You know, to protect the rest of the world from them."

She shook her head. "You've come to the wrong person. I can't fight… I don't think I could ever do something like that."

There was a crunching noise and Phil looked to see what had happened. As he glanced at the young woman's hand, he saw that the pencil she had been holding had broken into two pieces. She had easily done that with just her two fingers.

"You're superhuman," he stated as he gestured to the pencil. "With the proper training, I definitely think that you could fight off some bad guys."

"Superhuman," she repeated. "I never thought about it that way. I've always lived my life hiding my powers because my mom said it was dangerous to use them, but recently I've been using them. I thought I was being as secretive as I could about it, but apparently not as secretive enough considering how you found me."

"So your mother knew about your powers?" He received a nod from her. "There is nothing known about your father on records and your mother didn't have powers like you, so where did yours come from? They had to have come from somewhere, which brings me back to your father. Perhaps, they came from him."

Clara shrugged. "I don't know. My mom..." She held back a cry as she continued. "She never told me about who my father was and I just… I didn't ask. Also, she never explained where or how I got my powers."

"Do you ever think that maybe she knew more than she let along? Maybe that's a big part of what happened today. Either way, we will find out what did this to your mother."

"Did you just say 'what'? Don't you mean who?"

Phil shook his head. "No. It was not a regular human being that did this to her. If you don't believe me, I can have the photos shown to you-"

"No. I don't want to see any photos. Ever… I believe you. I mean, it has to be something crazy for you guys to be involved, right?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D will begin researching immediately to find out the truth behind the killer. Meanwhile, I would like for you to consider joining us as a recruit. If you joined, you would have a better chance at discovering who you really are and where your powers come from. Here is my business card."

She seemed hesitant as she took his card from him, but he didn't give up on hope. Yes, it was his task to bring together a group of special people, but it was also S.H.I.E.L.D's duty to keep people like her under control and that meant keeping her under their radar. If she accepted the proposal, both tasks would be completed.

* * *

Two weeks went by without news from Clara Song. Phil began to wonder if he needed to give up on his plan to recruit her, so he was caught off guard when he received a call from her. When he heard her voice, she sounded like she had "recovered." Obviously, two weeks weren't enough for someone to recover from their family member's death, but she sounded more emotionally stable to talk to compared to before.

"Hi, Agent Coulson. This is Clara Song. I've thought about what you said… And I think I'm in."

"You're in?"

"Yes, I'm in," she said without hesitance this time.

"That's great." He couldn't help but grin. "We're glad to have you join us."

"Thank you."

"You won't have to answer calls for a living anymore."

"Uh, I actually didn't mind that. And… You know what? I'm not even going to ask how you know about where I worked."

"It was on your profile…"

Phil had to pull his phone away from his ear from the sudden yelling.

"You have a profile of me? What the hell! How much does it say? That's super creepy. This sounds like an example of invasion of privacy."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _Thank you for the favorites/follows! It makes me excited to see that some of you are interested in this story so far. I think we'll be diving into the first Avengers movie starting the next chapter. Hopefully, Thor will appear soon. I really want to make sure I have character development, which is why I don't want to rush things since I have a bad habit of doing that. Just in case you were wondering, I plan on covering the timeline of the movies that we have so far. We'll get there eventually... but it's going to be a long journey!_

 _Btw, the reason why I ended the chapter with a bit of light-heartedness is because although serious things were covered, this story is based off of the movies and there has got to be some humor included (I'm not saying that I'm funny, but I try to be lmao)!_

 _Thanks for reading! See you in the next chapter!_

 _-Jane_

 _[Wait. I picked Jane as my pen name when I first started writing under this account, but I just noticed how fitting the name is... *winks* I shall be the ex-girlfriend muahaha]_


	3. Avengers Initiative

**Chapter 3 - Avengers Initiative**

April 2012—S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters, NYC

Becoming a member of S.H.I.E.L.D definitely had its pros and cons. Eight months had passed since she joined the organization and Clara felt so much more knowledgeable than she had been before about _everything_. She couldn't believe how oblivious she had been about the entire world prior to joining S.H.I.E.L.D.

When Phil had first informed her about the intense physical training that would be expected from her in order to become an official agent, she had doubted herself. But with long months of training using knives, tasers, guns, and other weapons that she had never heard of before and prepping for real combat through practice fighting sequences, she discovered a confidence from within her that she hadn't had before. Now, disarming someone holding a deadly weapon was one of the easiest things that she could do. She even had enough control over herself that she could disarm a person using telekinesis, which was a power that she hadn't been able to use on free will before. However, it was all thanks to her trainer and his stoic ways that had gotten her to this point. He had taught her the values of focus, determination, and perseverance and they were coming through to her in a positive light.

"Happy twenty-two," she heard his familiar voice saying. She immediately looked up from her Japanese textbook to see him placing a pink shopping bag onto her desk.

Since she had joined S.H.I.E.L.D, Clara had been required to study languages and that was why she was currently studying Japanese. She was glad that her mom had taught her Korean growing up because the language was structurally similar to Japanese, making it just a little easier to learn it. Yet, the other languages that she was studying were giving her a migraine. It didn't help that she had trouble rolling her r's.

Clara placed her mechanical pencil down beside her notebook before crossing her arms. "Clint, my birthday was like two weeks ago," she stated with a grin.

The agent nodded in response, a small indication of a smile appearing on the corner of his lips. "Yeah, I know. I missed it, but I still got you a present. I'm just... Two weeks late to give it to you."

"Well, I appreciate it very much. Thank you," she told him while reaching for the pink paper bag. It was funny to know that someone who looked as intimidating as he did had been carrying such a thing into the training center in order to give it to her.

"It might be too soon for the thanking. You haven't even seen it yet."

"True, but I'm sure I'll love it," she replied as she peeked into the bag to see what he had gotten her. "Ooh… A book of… _R_ _elaxing Poetry_."

Clara wasn't disappointed because she loved receiving books as gifts, but she was genuinely surprised. She hadn't expected to receive something like this from Clint. She didn't think he was a poetry kind of guy.

He let out a chuckle. "Yeah, my wife picked it out actually. She's really into reading these days. She says it helps her de-stress."

"You have a wife?"

He pretended to be offended. "What? You don't think a guy like me could be married?"

"No! I didn't mean it like that."

"Just messing with you, kid," he said quickly before her cheeks could get any redder than they already were.

While training her, he'd noticed that she got flustered easily. It wasn't a good trait to see on an agent, but he believed that she would eventually learn how to keep her emotions under control and keep them under a mask with experience—which she didn't have yet.

"I just-I always see you here at work and I never really thought about what your life would be like outside of it," she admitted.

"Yeah, I get it," he replied. "Sometimes, even I get surprised by how different it is out there when I go home to see my family."

"So… You have children too?" Clara asked, hoping to get to hear a little more from him. It was the first time that he was being so open with her. Maybe he finally trusted her.

"Just one. A son," he said, looking pleased as he thought about him.

 _Wow,_ she thought.

"I had no idea."

"There are a lot of things you probably don't know about me or the other agents around here," Clint told her. "We like to keep our personal lives private. You know, for the purpose of caution."

"Yeah, I've noticed. You're all very private," she said, thinking about how everyone that she had ever talked to at S.H.I.E.L.D would never talk about themselves. Topics always revolved around work and only work. "So um, do you have any more news about the Avengers Initiative?"

"When did you get so eager about it?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I feel like I've prepared a lot over the months and I want to put my efforts to the test."

He suddenly looked stern. "Let's be glad that the Avengers haven't become fully organized yet because that means there's nothing unstoppable going on in this world."

Clara bit her lip, regretting her question. He was right. What was wrong with her? Did she really want something bad to happen for the Avengers to officially be brought in? Still, she couldn't completely dismiss the fact that she was curious and looking forward to an actual mission, but Phil had been clear. She was only brought in for one specific reason and that was for the Avengers and until that plan was official, she was not going to be doing anything hands-on.

She gave him a nod. "Yeah, sorry. You're totally right."

"I need to get going, but I'll see you tomorrow at training. All right?"

"Yeah, see you. Thanks for stopping by."

The automatic doors closed after Clint walked out and Clara was left to think alone. So much had changed since her mother's death. She had left her job at the call center and was now a rookie agent at S.H.I.E.L.D. where she could practice using her powers freely. Honestly, she felt good being able to express her true self. It was nice not having to hide anymore, but some part of her deep down inside knew what she was doing didn't feel completely right. Still, she wanted to know about her background... her true origin.

Her mother had feared for her, that if she used her powers and people found out, they would try to take advantage of her. This had been the reason why she had been hesitant about joining S.H.I.E.L.D at first, but S.H.I.E.L.D seemed to protect their agents well. She didn't think that they would take advantage of their agents, would they? She didn't know for sure, but she hoped that what she was doing was for the best because this route was all that she knew.

Nothing else made sense. Her mother had never explained anything to her other than shunning her away from the rest of the world because using her powers were apparently dangerous. That wasn't enough for Clara anymore. She needed to know who she really was because she had a feeling that her mother had known the truth, and that was the reason why she was dead.

It frustrated her that S.H.I.E.L.D still had no idea what had killed her mother and she hoped that they weren't going to just cover it up because they couldn't find any leads.

* * *

Clara felt tired and disoriented as she woke up the next day. It was only 6:03 a.m., but she was already awake even before her alarm that was set for 6:30 could wake her. She had only been able to sleep for three hours fearing that if she slept for too long, she'd have another nightmare.

She had been having strange dreams lately. Dreams where she would be chased by a frightening, unknown force, then she would hear a male voice screaming at her to wake up and when she opened her eyes, she would be lying in bed covered in sweat and panic. These dreams were so frequent that she had even searched up a dream analysis for being chased. The most common one would state that she was avoiding a fear or something that made her uncomfortable. This didn't make sense to her because she wasn't avoiding things. If anything, she was rushing into them because she wanted to learn more about herself.

Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she reached for her cell phone which was plugged into its charger on the nightstand. The screen was already lit from a missed message or phone call that had possibly come in during the night. Swiping her thumb over the screen, she saw that she had missed a phone call and two new text messages from Phil.

 _Shit,_ she thought as she processed the new information given by the lead agent into her brain.

The Avengers were finally coming together.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _I'm back after a whole year! Much has changed, but I have NOT given up on this story. I'm just taking a really long time writing it lol. I feel like this applies to all of my stories. I am still so devastated after Endgame and I've been rewatching all of the Marvel movies over the past few days. That's how I got back to writing this... I guess that's good, but I'm so sad/heartbroken at the same time._

 _Anyway, thank you so much for the follows. Special shout out to harleyquinn87 for leaving a review last time! Thank you very much! To all readers, please continue leaving feedback! :)_

 _-Jane_


	4. It's Nice to Meet Captain America

**Chapter 4 - It's Nice to Meet Captain America**

Clara couldn't believe that she was actually standing in front of _the_ famous Nick Fury. Her hands were folded tightly together with the tips of her fingers twiddling. She couldn't stop herself from feeling nervous because even with his left eye covered with an eyepatch, she could tell that he was seriously staring her down.

"Agent Coulson is the one who pushed for your inclusion in this team," he revealed. "The question is, do you believe that you are prepared to fight with the Avengers?"

Clara met eyes briefly with Phil who was standing beside the director and the agent gave her a supportive nod, encouraging her to answer the question.

"Yes, I am ready," she said, surprised by her confident tone. "I won't let you down, sir."

With a short nod that was so curt that she wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been watching him attentively, the man went over to the other side of the floor to hear from his other agents. Finally, Clara felt like she could breathe normally again.

"So what do you think? Did I make a good first impression?" she asked with a grin.

"Yeah, pretty good. Just try to keep it up," Phil said, his tone remaining serious. "Did you read my email?"

"Yes," Clara nodded.

"Okay then. Let's test your reading comprehension. Tell me about why we're on this mission."

"Um... It has to do with HYDRA's secret weapon, the tesseract?" she started, earning a nod from Phil. "Yeah, so this tesseract thing has been taken by this Norse God from Ass...Gard...?"

 _"Asgard."_

"Right, Asgard," she corrected herself with embarrassment. "The dude's name is Loki and he has supposedly declared war on our planet... Right?"

"Is that all?"

"I'm sorry, but the email was too long," she blurted.

She was running on only three hours of sleep and with the insomnia that she had been experiencing, she couldn't sit through reading pages and pages of information. It was irresponsible of her to not have looked at something so important, but she just couldn't do it. Now she was regretting it.

"What about the pdf?" Phil questioned.

"There was a pdf?"

"Yeah, it was the forty six page attachment."

"Shit... I'm sorry!"

* * *

Thankfully, Phil spent ten minutes explaining what Clara needed to know in his usual patient manner. She was grateful that he had done so without reprimanding her, but she knew to not make something like this a habit of hers. She didn't want to disappoint anyone. The next time she received an email, she was going to read it. Even if it was a hundred pages long...

Everything about being aboard on S.H.I.E.L.D's helicarrier was new and exciting. She tried to keep her cool, but when a few of the Avengers team members came in, she couldn't hold her excitement in any further.

"Oh my God," she squeaked as she saw Captain America entering through the automatic doors.

She was glad that the S.H.I.E.L.D operatives around her were busy doing their individual duties because her reaction was slightly mortifying. She was supposed to be working alongside him in a professional manner. She wasn't supposed to become starstruck.

"Clara, calm down," Phil said from beside her while nudging her arm.

"Says the man who has Captain America trading cards," the agent with the short red hair said as she stepped next to Phil.

Clara's mouth opened. "You-"

Phil quickly stopped her. "Not a word."

She smiled sweetly, which seemed way too over the top and she knew from the look on his face that he knew that she would tease him about it some other time. She didn't know when exactly it had happened, but she was somehow comfortable enough around him to do that. Maybe it was because he had been there for her since the beginning of her start at S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Hi, Captain. _Sir._ My name is Clara. It's such an honor to meet you," she babbled. "You were in my history textbooks growing up and I did a lot of research on you. For a school essay I mean! I swear I'm not stalkerish or anything. I would never want to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Uh, I think the captain already feels uncomfortable," Phil stated and Clara quickly took a step back.

"Sorry," she blushed with her hand rubbing at the back of her neck out of awkwardness.

"Oh, there's no need to apologize. It's a pleasure to meet you. You can call me Steve." He gave her a polite but subtle smile while briefly shaking her hand.

Clara then introduced herself to Dr. Banner, secretly a little terrified knowing that he was also the Hulk, before making her way over to Natasha Romanoff who was also referred to as Black Widow. She had recognized her the moment the agent had joined her and Phil's conversation earlier. Clara knew who she was considering that she was highly respected and famous at the academy, but she knew that the agent wouldn't know her. She decided that it would be a good idea to introduce herself and make a good first impression. She had to admit, the red haired agent was intimidating to approach.

"Hi, Agent Romanoff. I'm-"

"Hey," the agent greeted cooly, her blue eyes difficult to decipher. "Clara, right? Just call me Natasha."

"Oh, okay," Clara said, slightly caught off guard.

"I've heard some great things about you from Clint."

From appearances, the agent looked unwelcoming, but she was probably just misread. Or maybe she liked to put on a cold face. However, she was being friendly to her now. Maybe it was because she and Clint were close. Clint had been one of Clara's training instructors earlier in the program. He must have had told Natasha about her.

"About Clint... I heard about what happened," Clara said as her mind shifted back to the more serious topic of getting back the tesseract from Loki. He had turned Clint into his underling. Although the tesseract was more important, saving the agent was also a strong priority.

"Yeah, he's uh… He's-"

"We'll get him back," Clara stated, out of her habit of being optimistic in the hardest times.

Natasha didn't look too reassured. In fact, she looked extremely worried. Seeing the agent look so vulnerable made Clara realize that even when she was one of the best secret agents out there, she was still just another human being.

"Where are you at with the tesseract?" Bruce Banner asked.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops… If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us," Phil answered.

Clara watched as Natasha moved over to where one of the operatives were working. She began pressing around the computer screen that had Clint's profile, looking at the information collected regarding his case.

"It's still not gonna find them in time," Natasha stated, clearly worried.

"You have to narrow your field," said Bruce. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Director Fury asked, implying that S.H.I.E.L.D was powerful when it came to things of that nature.

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

Fury nodded at the scientist's question. "Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory please?"

Natasha walked over to Banner to lead him out and Clara was left to stand next to Phil. She was still new and awkward. Standing next to him was the only thing that seemed comfortable in her situation.

"You look horrible."

"Wow, thanks," Clara said with a frown, feeling self-conscious as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"No. I mean, you look really tired. Didn't get any sleep last night?"

Should she tell him about her dreams? She debated the subject for a short moment. Looking around, she saw how busy the other agents were. Her personal issue didn't seem as important. She could always tell him later.

She shrugged. "I'm fine."

"No," he said firmly. "You need to get some sleep. You can't focus otherwise."

"But-"

"No buts. Don't worry. You'll be notified if we need you. Okay?"

Clara nodded with a sigh. When Phil got serious, there was no one who could go against him. Besides, she truthfully _did_ want to catch up on her sleep, or try anyway.

As Phil watched her leave, he couldn't help but remember the time that Clint had reminded him that Clara was still young. Yes, she was twenty-two, but compared to the rest of them she was still naive. She wondered if his decision to push for her inclusion had been the right thing.

He felt bad that he had been so eager to include her into the Avengers Initiative, but his decision had been strongly influenced by the pressure of Fury who expected to have the best team. That would mean including Clara. There was no backing out now, but he wondered if he was ruining her life. He had thought bringing her into S.H.I.E.L.D would be a win-win situation. He'd have a unique recruit and Clara Song would have a place in society to fit in. But would she truly?

* * *

Clara woke up with a startle. Natasha's face was the first thing that came into her view. Clara stared back at her, trying to get a grasp of reality.

It had happened again. She had been running away from an unknown force, but this time, the man's voice that she had grown to trust did not call out to her frantically. He hadn't woken her up. Natasha had.

"Bad dream?"

Clara nodded.

"You can tell me all about it later. Meanwhile, you need to get dressed because we're going on a mission," Natasha said as she handed her a uniform specifically fitted for the newest agent. "Say bye-bye to the boring suit."

Clara glanced down at her black jacket and dress pants. She had grown so used to dressing like Phil. Now, she was going to be wearing something that agents like Natasha and Clint wore.

"They found Loki?" she asked.

Natasha gave her a nod. "The face trace came to a success. We've got a hit."

"That was fast."

"Apparently, he doesn't plan on hiding."

"Where are we going?"

"Stuttgart, Germany."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _I received a thorough review on my previous chapter that made me realize that my character, Clara, does need some work. But no need to worry! I'll keep working on her character development throughout my story. She may seem "perfect" right now, but it's intentional on my part because I wanted to envision her as a rookie who gets into trouble by initially thinking that she is strong and capable of everything and anything when in reality she is not. She's going to get a reality check soon lol. Also, hopefully we'll see Thor in the next chapter!_

 _Again, thanks for the follows and thanks for reading!_

 _Feedback is always appreciated._

 _-Jane_


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